Wes & Maggie are getting married tomorrow!
Right now, I'm working a weird second shift schedule from home, and Hans is out at Ted's Montana Grill with Wes & Maggie's family and wedding party. Sure wish I had been there with them at the rehearsal and dinner! Although my presence is not required by any means (being as I'm not in the wedding party) I'm sure they are having a lot more fun than I am at work. Tonight I'm working from 6pm-2am. That's two hours off from a regular second shift, but I'm helping to cover part of the third shift that everyone is chipping in on. Maybe I'll still feel energetic enough to help out tomorrow morning with set-up for the ceremony, but maybe not. ^_^;;
Life is a weird mix of quiet and frustrating lately. Summer hasn't been all that much fun this year, for a variety of reasons. We had our big, fantastic honeymoon in May, so it feels like it was a while ago now. Hans spent two weeks in Calgary working with some collaborators that Josh (his adviser) has there. He came home from that on the night of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so we essentially went right from the airport to Barnes & Noble, with just a brief stop at home first. Liz was kind enough to pre-order two copies of the book so that she could wait in line for the wristbands on behalf of both of us. So, we didn't have to literally go straight from the airport to the bookstore. Spent most of the next four days reading (first me, then Hans) and then he flitted off to B'ham for a visit with his family. His grandmother is still doing as well as can be expected, but unfortunately she will not be going back home. His grandfather is trying to sell off some of his antiques to pay for her care and move into the nursing home with her, but so far he's been unable to sell his prized secretary organ. Surprisingly, there aren't many buyers for enormously expensive antique organs. Can't imagine why.
Last weekend, I finally had a real weekend off, for the first time in several months. Because of so many extra shift worked, I was even able to turn most of the week into vacation! We drove down to Charlotte on Friday and stayed until Sunday. Kristen, Hans, and I went to the Body Worlds exhibit at Discovery Place, which was really interesting. The exhibit shows "plasticized" bodies and body parts such that you can look at the skeletal structures, muscle structures, etc. There were bodies showing multiple joint replacements (in Tai Chi positions that the person never could have done in life), bodies showing muscle attachments, nerves, blood vessels, even a plasticized human riding a plasticized horse to show all the similarities and differences between them. They also had a section about reproduction that showed fetuses at various stages of development, and even the body of a mother, 8 months pregnant, who suspected that neither she nor her infant would survive and volunteered to be plasticized. It was really interesting, and sometimes disturbing.
Next weekend, I also have a completely free Saturday and Sunday. I definitely want to so something, since I'm starting third shift on weekends soon, and then I won't be able to do anything for like a month.
Group activities over the summer have been limited to cards almost entirely. Having exhausted our patience for the other games we tended to play, such as Taboo and Scattergories, everyone has taken to playing cards instead. Alas, I've played cards before and have generally strongly disliked every one of them, except Lunch Money which is completely different. Anybody have any suggestions for some good board games (or similar games not involving boards)? Taboo and Scattergories are great because they go in rounds, and you're pretty much free to play for as long or short a time as you'd like...as opposed to Monopoly which just takes forever if you don't play the One Ring version. If you know of any good ones, please let me know!
One other thing we're starting as a group is watching Heroes. I really enjoyed watching LOST with everyone a few months ago, and Heroes is said to be the "other" break-out hit as far as television shows are concerned. We're starting it on Sunday afternoon, while I'm working second shift...I hope it's a slow shift! Once again, Mary is helping out with providing episodes and bringing her laptop, which can plug into Hans's tv. And, of course, we get to see Mary, who we barely ever see.
Speaking of barely ever seeing people, Dina and Chad are coming to the wedding tomorrow. I had no idea that they were coming, this is how disconnected I am. Shame on me. I'm looking forward to seeing them tomorrow quite a lot, and I have to remember to ask about coming to visit in October. Hans and I are planning to visit Asheville sometime between Oct. 5-9, and we certainly hope that we'll be able to visit with Dina and Chad while we're there. Of course, it somewhat depends on their work schedules! We'll talk about it tomorrow.
Life is a weird mix of quiet and frustrating lately. Summer hasn't been all that much fun this year, for a variety of reasons. We had our big, fantastic honeymoon in May, so it feels like it was a while ago now. Hans spent two weeks in Calgary working with some collaborators that Josh (his adviser) has there. He came home from that on the night of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so we essentially went right from the airport to Barnes & Noble, with just a brief stop at home first. Liz was kind enough to pre-order two copies of the book so that she could wait in line for the wristbands on behalf of both of us. So, we didn't have to literally go straight from the airport to the bookstore. Spent most of the next four days reading (first me, then Hans) and then he flitted off to B'ham for a visit with his family. His grandmother is still doing as well as can be expected, but unfortunately she will not be going back home. His grandfather is trying to sell off some of his antiques to pay for her care and move into the nursing home with her, but so far he's been unable to sell his prized secretary organ. Surprisingly, there aren't many buyers for enormously expensive antique organs. Can't imagine why.
Last weekend, I finally had a real weekend off, for the first time in several months. Because of so many extra shift worked, I was even able to turn most of the week into vacation! We drove down to Charlotte on Friday and stayed until Sunday. Kristen, Hans, and I went to the Body Worlds exhibit at Discovery Place, which was really interesting. The exhibit shows "plasticized" bodies and body parts such that you can look at the skeletal structures, muscle structures, etc. There were bodies showing multiple joint replacements (in Tai Chi positions that the person never could have done in life), bodies showing muscle attachments, nerves, blood vessels, even a plasticized human riding a plasticized horse to show all the similarities and differences between them. They also had a section about reproduction that showed fetuses at various stages of development, and even the body of a mother, 8 months pregnant, who suspected that neither she nor her infant would survive and volunteered to be plasticized. It was really interesting, and sometimes disturbing.
Next weekend, I also have a completely free Saturday and Sunday. I definitely want to so something, since I'm starting third shift on weekends soon, and then I won't be able to do anything for like a month.
Group activities over the summer have been limited to cards almost entirely. Having exhausted our patience for the other games we tended to play, such as Taboo and Scattergories, everyone has taken to playing cards instead. Alas, I've played cards before and have generally strongly disliked every one of them, except Lunch Money which is completely different. Anybody have any suggestions for some good board games (or similar games not involving boards)? Taboo and Scattergories are great because they go in rounds, and you're pretty much free to play for as long or short a time as you'd like...as opposed to Monopoly which just takes forever if you don't play the One Ring version. If you know of any good ones, please let me know!
One other thing we're starting as a group is watching Heroes. I really enjoyed watching LOST with everyone a few months ago, and Heroes is said to be the "other" break-out hit as far as television shows are concerned. We're starting it on Sunday afternoon, while I'm working second shift...I hope it's a slow shift! Once again, Mary is helping out with providing episodes and bringing her laptop, which can plug into Hans's tv. And, of course, we get to see Mary, who we barely ever see.
Speaking of barely ever seeing people, Dina and Chad are coming to the wedding tomorrow. I had no idea that they were coming, this is how disconnected I am. Shame on me. I'm looking forward to seeing them tomorrow quite a lot, and I have to remember to ask about coming to visit in October. Hans and I are planning to visit Asheville sometime between Oct. 5-9, and we certainly hope that we'll be able to visit with Dina and Chad while we're there. Of course, it somewhat depends on their work schedules! We'll talk about it tomorrow.